Swift is Apple's All-New Programming Language

Not content with revamping its iOS and OS X operating systems, Apple has introduced an all-new language for writing applications called Swift. It sees the Cupertino company ticking many boxes off the feature list that third-party developers have longed for. You could say it's been "Taylored" specifically for developers.

Allowing Objective-C and C to sit alongside it, developers can move between languages easily within the same project, and also offering type inference, multiple return types and generics. Swift also integrates with Xcode's new "Playgrounds" development feature, letting devs have a real-time glimpse at code rendering. In effect, a gaming app developer can tweak code, have a quick play of the game, and then tweak code in real-time and see the changes take effect immediately.

Oh, and if you want to add emoticons as variables, Swift has you covered there too.